Breastfeeding mothers are still told by employers to feed their babies in toilet cubicles, according to a Bendigo lactation consultant.
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Rachael Findlay said new mothers returning to work still faced hurdles to find safe, clean breastfeeding spaces.
"So many workplaces will say, 'well just go to the toilet'," Ms Findlay, a Bendigo Health lactation consultant, said.
"We don't want eat our dinner in the toilet, so we don't want to do that for the babies either."
In the first 12 months of a child's life breastfeeding mums are entitled by law to a private and clean environment at their workplace to feed or express milk.
But Ms Findlay said many women feel they have to "justify" the way they choose to feed their child.
"We hear about male colleagues [asking] 'why would you do that?', or 'why not give them a formula?'," she said.
"So there is stigma around why women do need to have a private space to be able to breastfeed."
Enabling breastfeeding in the workplace underpins this year's World Breastfeeding Week, running from August 1 - 7, with the theme "let's make breastfeeding and work, work!".
Mums need a clean, private space
The campaign focuses on promoting practices that can help support workplace-related breastfeeding, which Ms Findlay said included ensuring breastfeeding mothers had access to a clean, private space - such as an office with a door to feed their child.
Further workplace stigma including the sexualization of breasts clouded the importance of breastfeeding, especially in those crucial first years, according to Ms Findlay.
"Breast milk provides half of a baby's nutritional needs in the first six months of their life, and a third of nutritional needs into the second year of their life," she said.
"And we're only talking about nutritional value there, but it is also a beautiful time for mum and baby to be able to sort of reconnect and relax together."
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends all babies are breastfeed to 6 months of age, though only around 15 per cent of newborns meet that target.
Beyond that, breastfeeding into toddlerhood, is reported to be protective for a young child's immune system.
But Ms Findlay said the continuation of breast feeding during that toddler age can be another source of anxiety for mothers returning to the workforce.
"A woman who is returning to work perhaps after eight to 12 months of maternity leave probably feels like an odd one out that she's breastfeeding this baby who has got teeth and is mobile," she said.
Aside from the baby, extended breastfeeding a child comes with a host of benefits for the mother, reportedly reducing the risk of type two diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and breast and ovarian cancers.
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